START YOUR EAR OFF RIGHT SERIES

The same extraordinary madness that infected the best work of Brian Wilson rears its head on the shimmering and melodic Clouds Taste Metallic, a masterful collection which completes the Flaming Lips' odyssey into the pop stratosphere. The Pet Sounds comparisons are obvious -- two of the highlights are titled "This Here Giraffe" and "Christmas at the Zoo" -- yet not unfair; like Brian Wilson, Wayne Coyne has refined his unique vision into something both highly personal and powerfully universal. Similarly, while Coyne's lyrics remain as acid-damaged and inscrutable as ever, his densely constructed songs convey emotional complexities far beyond the scope of their head-case titles ("Psychiatric Explorations of the Fetus With Needles," "Guy Who Got a Headache and Accidentally Saves the World"); galvanized by equal parts newfound maturity and childlike wonderment, Clouds Taste Metallic is both the Flaming Lips' most intricate and most irresistible work

A1        The Abandoned Hospital Ship
A2        Psychiatric Explorations Of The Fetus With Needles
A3        Placebo Headwound
A4        This Here Giraffe
A5        Brainville
A6        Guy Who Got A Headache And Accidentally Saves The World
B1        When You Smile
B2        Kim's Watermelon Gun
B3        They Punctured My Yolk
B4        Lightning Strikes The Postman
B5        Christmas At The Zoo
B6        Evil Will Prevail
B7        Bad Days (Aurally Excited Version)